Actor opened his huge wings and used one of them to block out of sight the two men leaning against his shoulder. His decision to join the humans again after having been away was proving to be an interesting one. His rider was on the brink of becoming an important piece of his colony, his personality strong and practical. It would be fun to help him reach his full potential. The Linked One to his rider was a dreamy kind of human, a complete contrast. More polite, more friendly, already used to being responsible. But he also held inside him a strong desire to see the stars up close that Actor hadn’t seen since he had lost Heechul to those stars. It was going to be a connection full of sparks. His rider loved dragons but other than that, he very much preferred to keep his feet on the ground. Still, Changmin did have a habit of going up on the roof. Maybe he and Yoochun were a better match then he thought at first. 

Actor stole a peak at the two humans. The dreamy one had caught his rider completely by surprise and was thoroughly kissing the taller man. The usually opinionated Shim Changmin was at a loss for words, unable to react and even slowly losing the ability to continue thinking under the continuous assault. His mind was still surprised and trying to rebel over finding out who his Linked One was. His body, however, had no such problems obeying The Connection and was surrendering gladly. The chemicals unleashed at the adulthood ceremony were ensuring that his body acknowledged the link, even if his mind was still far behind. 

The huge ancient dragon sighed and looked up at the sky where he could see Sailor and Blur having a similar problem as he had had earlier. Their riders still hadn’t linked yet. Not even physically. It posed quite a difficult choice. Either they gave up on their riders, passing them on to other dragons better able to deal with that, or they went ahead ignoring that The Connection wasn’t fully established. He was lucky. The dreamy one, Park Yoochun, had picked up on who was his Linked One and had lost no time acting on it. It would take more for them to evolve into a proper pair, their long-time friendship helping and not helping in the process. Still, the initial tricky detail of identifying was sorted.

Actor hated how the humans kept changing the process. He still remembered when they had no links, it made it difficult to connect with the strange tiny creatures stranded in his planet. When the curious little humans figured out a way to adapt to their own body chemistry some of the chemicals that the dragons possessed naturally, it had smoothed the cohabitation between the two very different species. Off course, they couldn’t leave it alone and were constantly tampering with it. The result was a process that currently lasted only one blue cycle but that unfortunately had a window of opportunity of just the third purple cycle to form a Connection with the dragons. It wasn’t possible sooner, it wasn’t possible later. Worst of it all was that The Connection between the Linked Ones was completely scattered during the blue cycle, occurring immediately, randomly or almost at the end. It destabilized the dragon link with its rider. It was always stronger and easier to establish the human and dragon link when the human was already linked to his own pair. 

Actor looked around in relief. He was glad that Yoochun was so smart and currently winning the battle of wills. There was no mistaking the energy fluctuations the two humans were emanating. Changmin had conceded defeat without being aware of it, allowing Yoochun to kiss him to his heart’s content. That only left him one last thing to figure out. 


…


His main pair was complete but he had sensed a third complementary link. Where was the healer? Could that link be established as well before he took off with these two to fly? He didn’t know which dragon would choose the healer. That had been left to the energy flow. 

Actor searched the prairie for the healer’s energy vibes among the confusion of dragons that had landed. One of his offspring was nearby, a very young dragon, its final colours still not settled. It was playful Mira and Actor couldn’t help a smile. Mira was finally old enough to form a link with a human and had apparently been anxious to try that out. Actor studied the healer in front of the young dragon. He could remember that human looking between the two men now hidden by his wing and another human in the distance. His offspring avoided his inquiring eyes. Intrigued, Actor forced Mira to show him what was happening.

The young dragon had been attracted to the energy from the healer Kim Junsu. Curiously, when he landed, he landed near another healer instead, a girl from the other colonies. However, since the rider Mira chose kept thinking about that human, the dragon had gone over to check and had approved of the girl. 

Actor smiled, very pleased with his offspring. The young dragon hadn’t been able to recognize why the outsider healer had appealed to him but the older dragon knew immediately. She was from Seffren and her blood line went far back to Heechul who had been taken away to that planet. Heechul had been one of his riders. That blood line, the same one from which Changmin descended, was a blood line he had followed closely when possible. But still… 

Mira admitted, a little fearfully, that he had told Kim Junsu that since he wasn’t one of the main pair, he had the possibility to choose. Actor paused and considered. Normally the dragons didn’t mess with that. They just allowed The Connection to do its work. Whenever the link involved more than two people it was trickier for the humans to balance things and in some cases, only The Connection made it work. However, Mira had been too enchanted with the girl to let the opportunity pass to have his rider be able to choose her instead. The older dragon studied the energy flow from the two men under his wing and from the two healers in the distance. It didn’t take him too long to decide that his rider was better off having Yoochun all to himself. As for the two healers, Actor smiled agreeing with how much fun Mira would have seeing his mischievous rider woo the outsider girl. 

Actor told Mira that he wasn’t upset with him but warned the young dragon to be careful of pulling the same stunt in the future. Mira promised heartily and sent him a good image of how Kim Junsu’s and the girl’s energy flows were more and more connected, even with the fact that the girl’s body chemistry had way more of Seffren than Lhara on it, Heechul’s blood legacy diluted over time. The ancient dragon wondered if the girl would be able to adapt to having Junsu think of her as his Linked One when she wasn’t bound by any effects of The Connection. Still the energy flow did look very promising and he did like new things.


…


New things like the fact that he had to take Park Yoochun flying with him and Shim CHangmin because he would never connect with a dragon on his own, even after taking the chemical potion. It had surprised him a little that Yoochun had so easily contacted him in his eagerness to assist Changmin. It was good that his rider didn’t have to act as an intermediary even if the only reason Yoochun could talk with him was because he was linked to Changmin and had unconsciously refused a link with dragons. That had left an open path that the man used to assist his Linked One, unknowingly strengthening his link to Changmin. Now that Junsu would not join them, that link would be surprisingly strong, which was good because Changmin would not stop being stubborn any time soon. 

Actor checked on the two men. Yoochun still had Changmin closely pressed against him, kissing him deeply and nonstop, giving the younger man no chance to fight back or even think. In fact, as he expected, the link between them was now healthy and very strong, especially because, to Actor’s amusement, his rider’s mind had deserted him. Only Changmin’s body was in charge of responding to Yoochun and that answer was making the older male want much more. Their energy flows had never noticed that the healer had initially been meant to be one of them. Actor liked how that unexpected twist was making their link more stable. 

Sailor and Blur sang high in the sky catching Actor’s attention. They congratulated him for a well-established link and had both just decided to risk it, thinking that their riders were too important to leave to younger dragons. The mated pair of dragons would simply connect with their riders and wait patiently until the two humans realised their own connection. 

The pink sky called out for the ancient dragon. He had been standing in the prairie for too long already. It was about time he gave his two humans proper privacy, not to mention Changmin’s first flight. Actor grabbed the two men, surprising them, and dumping them to sit perched at the end of his neck.

“Had forgotten about me, hadn’t you? Hold on tight to something.”

The few people standing near started to run away when the huge green dragon opened his entire wing span. The gust of wind knocked down a few of those less prepared for the dragon’s take off. Soon he was simply a jade spot on the horizon. 


…


Changmin was not thinking. He was not capable of thinking. The second Yoochun had revealed they were going to be Linked Ones he had been in shock. Yoochun’s unusual confident attitude only threw him off even more. But what really fried his brain was that damn kiss. And the kisses that followed. Lots of kisses. Fried brain. 

His body was just not obeying him. The last proper thought Changmin had was to curse himself for having relied so much on The Connection only to find out at the last possible minute that he actually hated not having any control of what happened to him. To add to all that he had mindlessly responded to the kisses. He might even have moaned a little.

Now the dragon had dumped them on his back and they were going up and up, higher and higher. Maybe the height and velocity would kick start his brain again?


…


Changmin closed his eyes and felt the wind just blow past him. Yoochun was sitting behind him, hugging him tight. As always, the older man didn’t like to fly like this and was holding on to him as if his life depended on it. He tried to ignore Yoochun and his damn warmth and his damn heartbeat.

Pushing the other man to the back of his mind for the moment, Changmin simply enjoyed the fact that he was flying, he had a green dragon like he wanted. Obviously an ancient and powerful dragon which was just awesome. The young man opened his eyes to find himself high up above the clouds. His mind felt so connected to the dragon that it was as if he was the one stretching his wings, feeling their strength and length, how they won over the wind currents and rode them. Changmin smiled. More and more. He ended up laughing and screaming loudly with pure joy. It was even better than he had ever imagined.


…